There has been a flurry of publishing recently analyzing Japanese corporations in the post-bubble economy and the extent to which change is or is not happening and why. While the literature continues to expresses diverse views on such time-honored themes as the role of the keiretsu and bureaucrats in guiding corporate behavior, the five books under review shed a great deal of light on the role of social capital and economic change in Japan. Although many popular commentators continue to lament Japan's seeming intransigence in the face of demographic, regional, and financial challenges, these titles present a more nuanced picture. They show that Japan's business model is absorbing some of the components of corporate governance preferred by U.S. shareholders, but slowly, very modestly, and to enhance, rather than overturn, the existing system. The reason, the authors find, is the overwhelming demands placed upon firms and managers to build and maintain...

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